LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The drought in Arkansas continues to intensify, and officials said Thursday that river levels will continue to drop and wildfires are likely to grow in number and intensity.

The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor showed one-third of Arkansas is in exceptional drought, the most severe classification.

The greatest effect is on agriculture. Corn is about ready for harvest, and the crop is generally healthy. But rice, soybean and cotton growers still have weeks to go before it’s time to bring in their crops, and agriculture officials said the longer the plants stay in the fields, the greater the risk of damage from drought and occasional storms.

Gov. Mike Beebe on Thursday visited firefighters and toured damage near Ola in west-central Arkansas, site of the largest wildfire so far this summer.

The blaze that started Wednesday consumed 1,400 acres, and for a time, led to evacuations in Ola, a town of 1,200 people. The fire tore through forests and pastures in a mountainous area where many residents raise chickens and horses. Some property owners turned their horses loose so they would be able to escape the flames.

The fire was down to 1,100 acres Thursday and was contained between Arkansas highways 7 and 10, southeast of Ola. But firefighters were on standby as a storm gathered nearby. Arkansas Forestry Commission spokeswoman Sheila Doughty said the thunderstorm could whip up winds and push the fire in a different direction.

“Afternoon is the worst time,” Doughty said. “We’re getting prepared should that wind shift and we have to make new (fire) lines.”

Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample flew in to Ola with the governor on an Arkansas National Guard flight.

“One of the first things you notice from above were that there were long narrow bands of trees that the fire tore through very quickly,” DeCample said. Firefighters worked to contain the fire in the bands and limit the damage, he said.

On the ground, Beebe thanked firefighters who’d worked around the clock and were still putting out flare-ups.

DeCample said local officials expressed only one need: “Rain.”

But the forecast through October shows the drought persisting or intensifying. National Weather Service forecaster John Lewis said the best chance to break the drought would be a tropical storm, possibly in September, when tropical weather tends to peak.

Lewis said the drought is what forecasters call a “flash drought” because it emerged over a relatively short period. The state had plenty of rain in the winter and spring, he said. In fact, nearly 19 inches of rain fell in Little Rock in a one-month span ending in December.

Some smaller communities have had water troubles, but Lewis said that’s because their wells ran dry. The state’s lakes, which are important sources of drinking water, still have adequate supplies.

April through June proved to be the driest period on record for the state. July brought a few days of thunderstorms, including Thursday. But the rain wasn’t nearly enough to break the drought. The Arkansas Forestry Commission restored an extreme fire danger declaration for more than half of the state this week.

Numerous Arkansas rivers are either at their lowest levels on record or are close to that, Lewis said. Among them are the Ouachita, Black, Mulberry, Saline, Little Red, Little Missouri and Fourche La Fave rivers.

Some ranchers have been selling off cattle they can’t graze or afford to buy feed for, and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture said Thursday that poultry producers are starting to feel the weather’s effect.

Susan Watkins, extension poultry specialist for the division, said in a statement that some poultry farmers who use municipal or rural water systems are being asked to stop because the utilities can’t keep up with demand. She has scheduled a presentation on other options for getting and storing water.